In recent years, a common cause of fractures of the proximal humerus has been high-energy trauma. The occurrence of this type of fracture increases with age because the bone structure in the area of the proximal humerus degrades over time, such that only the edge zone of the bone in the region of the proximal humerus remains intact. In the event of a fall on an outstretched arm at advanced age, the bone commonly breaks in the area of the proximal humerus.
One type of bone plate known in the art includes a head section and an elongated shaft portion. The head portion includes two pairs of holes forming a generally T-shaped configuration on the head portion. One disadvantage of this type of bone plate is that the hole configuration of the head portion may inhibit inserting screws into the intact bone structure located at the edge zone of the proximal humerus. Moreover, the known bone plates may lack angularly stable options in the plate holes. When using such a bone plate, it may be pressed by bone screws against the bone, a process called compression osteosynthesis. In compression osteosynthesis, the forces which arise are transferred via friction between the implant or plate and the bone, with the bone bearing most of the load. Under dynamic conditions, the axial pressure applied on the bone screws may cause the bone screws to tear out of the bone, and may result in a loss of the stability of the plate-bone construct. In order to achieve angularly-stable repositioning, some implants from the prior art required blades. The prior art surgical technique of using blades, however, requires greater time expenditure and is complex to use. Therefore, there remains a need in the art for bone plates having angular stability between the bone plate and the screws, simple handling, and optimum anatomic matching to the bone with no impediment to the relevant anatomic structures of the bone.